Promotion of Breastfeeding In Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Human milk is the natural nutrition for all infants. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is the preferred choice of feeding for all infants. Breastfeeding decreases risks for many diseases in infants and mothers. In children, breastfeeding has been associated with a reduction in the risk for acute otitis media, nonspecific gastroenteritis, severe lower respiratory tract infections, atopic dermatitis, childhood leukemia, and the sudden infant death syndrome. In mothers, a history of lactation has been associated with a reduced risk for type 2 diabetes and breast and ovarian cancer. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, some of the obstacles to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding include insufficient prenatal education about breastfeeding, disruptive maternity care practices, and lack of family and broad societal support. Effective interventions reported to date include changes in maternity care practices, Although these outcomes of HM feedings are well documented for infants in the NICU, families and health care providers struggle to translate this evidence into actionable policies, procedures, guidelines, and resource allocation to improve the use of HM in the NICU, implementation of NICU practices for encouraging mothers to initiate and maintain lactation, protecting the maternal milk supply, caring for pumped HM, transferring from gavage to at-breast feed, to solve common